[CATC] Paladins

[Mandalorianknight]

LEGO PALADINS

Description: In the Old World, the kingdoms are fractured, in conflict with one another. But something grave has happened. A Dark being has found some way to resurrect the departed, and created an army of skeletal warriors. These skeletons would easily overrun any one kingdom, but there is hope. The Paladin champions of the kingdoms have gained powers beyond those of mortal men, with great strength, speed and magical shields. If they stand together, the Paladins can save their kingdoms. If they can unite the kingdoms, they can save their world. 

Set wave:
Noctus Ambush ($9.99, more realistically $14.99. 80 pieces including the figures and handheld accessories, but not those in the weapons barrel):

Watch out! A Bone corruptor has placed a Noctus Lantern on a tombstone, corrupting the land. Turn the dial to help him reanimate the skeleton to create a new warrior for the Dark Army. Then help the Red Eagle knight and Blue Lion knight work together to stop them, as it's the only way to defeat this unnatural threat!

Comes with 4 minifigures: A Red Eagle Knight, a Blue Lion Knight, a Bone Corruptor, and a Skeletal Warrior.

"Front of the box" image, showcasing how turning the black gear pops the skeleton up, pops the tombstone lid off, and knocks down the tree.

Here is the Bone Corruptor placing a Noctus Lantern on the tomb to "resurrect" the skeleton.

The side build, a location marker for the Golden Wolves (more information on that later). There is a barrel of weapons, and the full non-skeleton weapons included are a sword, shield, knife, crossbow, axe, and spear.

A more organized look at the full set. L-R are the figures: A Blue Lions archer, a Red Eagles knight, a generic skeleton warrior, and a "Bone Corruptor": Basically a cloaked skeleton that sneak into tombs and resurrects more skeletons.

 

 

 

 

Larger set: Attack on Karos Outpost ($99.99, 1100 pieces including figures and accessories):

The Dark Army is attacking! Quickly, climb the ladder to the battlements of Karos Outpost. Watch out for the Noctus Cannon as it fires through the wall of the outpost, or hits the target to knock out the floor of the bridge! Fight back by using the base's catapult and sending out the Paladins to fight the Bone Gargantuan and skeletal warriors!

"front of the box" image including a showcase of the figures, builds, and the main play function: The cannon that can shoot out a section of the wall.

This is the main build, Karos Outpost. I wanted it built up on some rocks as opposed to the standard, "cleaner" castle look to make it a bit more unique. I also added a lot of Dark Tan and texturing to make it look worn and broken. Aside from the pre-mentioned wall, the flag can also be shot off the castle, as well as another thing you can't quite see here.

This is the interior of the outpost. Clockwise from bottom right: Dining area with table, "water" barrel and food (and open space for the wall to blast through), rooftop defenses with weapon barrel and catapult, bridge trapdoor, watchtower with lantern and flag, interior room with weapon barrel, and the entrance area with a suit of armor. (And a pink plume, hinting at possible other kingdoms that would be seen in a second wave).

And here's that third thing the cannon can shoot. The bridge's floor is a trapdoor that, by hitting the target, can fall out. 

And the side builds, a Noctus cannon, and a Bone Gargantuan. The cannon's design was always pretty set, since I knew only a technic cannon could punch out the wall. The Gargantuan came out mainly because I liked the ribcage design towards the back of the cannon, and wanted to try it on a humanoid. I tried to make it both bulky and skeletal, which is somewhat of a contradiction, but I think the ribcage helps in that matter. These two builds help build up the Dark Army to have an actual force attacking the castle as opposed to just a couple minifigs.

And here we've got everything together. 10 minifigs is on the higher end for a $120 set, but I figure having 3 of them be skeletons rather than standard figures might help. Anyway, left to right: Red Eagle Paladin, Blue Lion Paladin, Golden Wolf Paladin, Emerald Bear Paladin, Hazel Owl Paladin, (intermission: a horse i accidentally put in the middle of the figure lineup), 2 skeletal warriors, a Bone Corruptor, a skeletal archer, and the Bone Captain.

Here's some additional lore/info:

Full wave of five sets:

Noctus Ambush ($14.99)

Blue Lions battlement ($34.99): A small battlement for the Blue Lions faction. Comes with the Blue Lion and Gold Wolf Paladins, a Blue Lion Knight, a Blue Lions war horse, and 2x skeletal warriors with a skeletal horse.

Emerald Bears ship versus Skeletal Wyvern ($79.99): Emerald bears ship and skeletal dragon, as well as a small Hazel Owls tower. Comes with the Emerald Bear Paladin, 2x Emerald Bear soldiers, an Emerald Bear Archer, the Hazel Owl Paladin, and 3x skeletal warrior.

Attack on Karos Outpost ($99.99)

Red Eagle Base ($139.99): Red eagle watchtower, magistrate's building, blacksmith, and marketplace with some walls, as well as a smaller skeletal wyvern. Figures are the Red Eagle Paladin, 2x Red Eagle knights, 2x Red Eagle archers, a blacksmith, 2 citizens, the Magistrate, the Bone Captain, and 4x skeletal warriors.

 

Factions: 

Dark Army: Led by a necromancer that does not appear in wave one, and is only heard, never seen, in the first arc of the story. The necromancer bottles dark magic in Noctus Lanterns, the Light that Heralds the Final Darkness, which he sends Bone Corruptors (again, just skeletons hiding in cloaks) out with to resurrect more skeleton warriors. This allows him to quickly gain a HUGE amount of skeleton soldiers. We also see skeletons other than minifigure skeletons, such as those of ancient giants or dragons. The Dark Army is a pretty generic villain force in terms of motive, as they're just completely evil, but they have a cool aesthetic, and story wise the main character stuff comes from the different kingdoms.

Red Eagles: The Red Eagle Kingdom values Freedom. It's better for a people to die fighting than live in servitude. Under the loose leadership of their Magistrate, the Red Eagles have become known for their master blacksmiths, producing the best weapons in the Old World. The Red Paladin wields a Sword.

Blue Lions: The Blue Lion Kingdom values Security. The highest duty of a kingdom is to protect it's people. Their king is strict, but just, and their calvary is the envy of the Old World. Their Paladin wields an Axe.

Golden Wolves: The Golden Wolf Kingdom values Curiosity. To explore the world is one of the noblest pursuits of mankind. Their Queen sends expeditions of their expert Pathfinders out past the known world to see what lies beyond, and their contact with tribes outside the Old World have made them expert negotiators and ambassadors. Their Paladin wields a Machete.

Emerald Bears: The Emerald Bear Kingdom values Honor. If one makes a promise, it is their highest duty to keep it. As their Governor made a promise to protect their coastal realm from pirates, they have the strongest navy of any kingdom. Their Paladin wields a Pike.

Hazel Owls: The Hazel Owl Kingdom values Intelligence. Mankind's pursuit of knowledge is essential to unlocking the mysteries of the old world. Led by a High Council, the Hazel Owls have some of the wisest philosophers of the Old World. Their Paladin wields a staff.

 

Some other, more general story info: A main focus of the story is that the kingdoms are conflicting factions, and have to resolve their differences to effectively fight the Dark Army. The outpost in the larger set is an ancient outpost from back when the kingdoms were united, so the battle there would serve as a reminder to the kingdoms that they can unite once more. 

Thank you for reading my submission. I tried to give the theme some real story basis and themes.

Edited September 17, 2022 by Mandalorianknight

[Sir E Fullner]

Excellent work on these builds. I especially like the brickwork on the outpost set.

[Daiman]

This is great, a lot of work gone into the builds.

 

[CrappyMocMaker]

I love the builds! The story is also pretty interesting, I'd love to see the other sets from the wave!

[Mandalorianknight]

6 hours ago, Sir E Fullner said:

Excellent work on these builds. I especially like the brickwork on the outpost set.

Thanks! I really wanted to convey that it was ancient even for the medieval time shown here, with brickwork more irregular than, say, 10305.

5 hours ago, Daiman said:

This is great, a lot of work gone into the builds.

Thank you, I'm glad you can tell!

16 minutes ago, CrappyMocMaker said:

I love the builds! The story is also pretty interesting, I'd love to see the other sets from the wave!

Many thanks! The story actually came pretty easily compared to the builds, I'm pretty good at making up random lore. As a kid I would smash figs together and make an extensive story for them. Even now, there's a fair bit more lore in my head than what's written there, as well as more bare-bones (no pun intended) storylines and lore for years 2 and 3 (including the introduction of another 3 kingdoms, as well as other civilizations appearing as both friends and foes)

I definately want to make the other sets, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post them until after the contest ends. 

[natesroom]

I like it!, I'd buy three right away at $99, maybe just 2 at $119

also agree lego gets all squirmish about putting the proper amount of minifigs in sets.

I like the skeletons actually seem integrated and not afterthoughts like most sets

Edited September 18, 2022 by natesroom

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

Awesome ectoplasmic sword!

[Mandalorianknight]

2 hours ago, Viper Knight said:

Awesome ectoplasmic sword!

You mean the trans-neon green sword piece? Thanks, I guess. It's just a sword in an existing color, nothing too special 

On 9/18/2022 at 5:03 PM, natesroom said:

I like it!, I'd buy three right away at $99, maybe just 2 at $119

also agree lego gets all squirmish about putting the proper amount of minifigs in sets.

I like the skeletons actually seem integrated and not afterthoughts like most sets

Thanks very much! It's high praise indeed to say you'd actually want to buy the set were it real.

They definately do. Some themes like SW routinely have $80+ sets with 3 minifigs... IMO there should be roughly 1 minifig for every $10 the set is worth. (So 6 in a $60 set, 10 in a $100, etc, and battle/figure packs excluded, of course)

Thank you for noticing the skeleton integration (in the story and sets). Generally with lego themes the skeletons are just kinda seen as "oh no, bad guys" (looking at you, ninjago) with nothing in the story about how unnatural it would be to fight a skeleton. In this theme, this is, like, the first instance of magic. The paladins' powers appear around the same time the skeletons show up. So they're really terrifying both in their numbers and strength, and also just in the concept alone, since up until this point the world acted as a fairly grounded medieval world. 

[Agent Kallus]

I'd definitely put both these sets on my to-get list of they were real!

I like the idea of the different factions uniting to face evil led by thier paladin champions. 

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

They remind me of the quantom virtue of phase swords, but your skeletal figures obviously would be having a soulversion - so, seeing it green reminds me of the accuracy in that. Whereas red would be a personal choice by the Maker. I don't have a place where souls go, so pardon me if you expected something like "ethereal" or "nether", or even "spirit". Heaven seems plausible for the word being "soul."

[Mandalorianknight]

38 minutes ago, Agent Kallus said:

I'd definitely put both these sets on my to-get list of they were real!

I like the idea of the different factions uniting to face evil led by thier paladin champions. 

Thanks! I tried to make something that was on the surface simple enough for kids, and having a good message. (In this case the main message being unity/teamwork). 

I just realized while typing this comment that most themes have 5-6 colorful heroes with different weapons (ninjago, nexo knights, and bionicle), so I guess mine fits there too.

3 minutes ago, Viper Knight said:

They remind me of the quantom virtue of phase swords, but your skeletal figures obviously would be having a soulversion - so, seeing it green reminds me of the accuracy in that. Whereas red would be a personal choice by the Maker. I don't have a place where souls go, so pardon me if you expected something like "ethereal" or "nether", or even "spirit". Heaven seems plausible for the word being "soul."

I'm not sure I understand, sorry. Is this a mythos you made, like the stuff in your signature, or is there like a general lore for this subforum I've missed?

[JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)]

Ooh, I really like the gimmick of reanimating corpse from the graveyard!

The $10 set feels like it would be something Lego would make in the 2000/2010s and I'm definitely down for that. Out of all the small sets I've seen, this (The Noctus Ambush) and Encounter in the Forest from Cryptid Hunters are my favs so far!

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

I just think it basic knowledge among most people that use skeletons.

[Mandalorianknight]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:53 PM, JJ Tong (zfogshooterz) said:

Ooh, I really like the gimmick of reanimating corpse from the graveyard!

The $10 set feels like it would be something Lego would make in the 2000/2010s and I'm definitely down for that. Out of all the small sets I've seen, this (The Noctus Ambush) and Encounter in the Forest from Cryptid Hunters are my favs so far!

Thanks! Many people have made some really excellent MoCs, my goal was trying to do something as similar to what lego would do as possible (without copying builds, of course)

I'm glad you like it! Cryptid hunters is I think the most realistic to what lego would make for a theme. If I can vote as an entrant (and assumably not for myself lol), I'll likely vote for that one.

2 hours ago, Viper Knight said:

I just think it basic knowledge among most people that use skeletons.

I'm really sorry, I'm just not understanding. There are many different interpretations of skeletons in pop culture, I was just using some basic tropes of skeletons and evil magic.

[Lion King]

Whoa, i really like this idea! If they are real, I will instantly buy them!!

[Mandalorianknight]

2 hours ago, DBlegonerd7 said:

Whoa, i really like this idea! If they are real, I will instantly buy them!!

Thanks! This is my "real" entry, the one that I made to be a realistic theme idea and get votes, but I've got another one to squeeze in before the deadline that's more for fun. (Not that it wasn't the primary focus of this one, but with my next one the only criteria is "how nuts can I make this theme".)

[natesroom]

Would you be willing to post the Bone guardian pdf of it here or on rebrickable? I really like the look and model and i wanted to practice how you built this. i think i can figure it out, but an inventory would be nice!

Edited September 25, 2022 by natesroom

[Mandalorianknight]

22 hours ago, natesroom said:

Would you be willing to post the Bone guardian pdf of it here or on rebrickable? I really like the look and model and i wanted to practice how you built this. i think i can figure it out, but an inventory would be nice!

The bone gargantuan? Yeah, I can send you the stud.io file for it if you PM me an email address to send it to. I'm planning on setting up rebrickable eventually, I just haven't taken the time yet.

[JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)]

On 9/25/2022 at 4:24 AM, Mandalorianknight said:

Thanks! Many people have made some really excellent MoCs, my goal was trying to do something as similar to what lego would do as possible (without copying builds, of course)

I'm glad you like it! Cryptid hunters is I think the most realistic to what lego would make for a theme. If I can vote as an entrant (and assumably not for myself lol), I'll likely vote for that one.

Same here, Cryptid Hunters will definitely be one of my candidates too! Hopefully the voting system will be similar to past contests where we can also vote for multiple entries too.

Edited September 26, 2022 by JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)

[Mandalorianknight]

2 hours ago, JJ Tong (zfogshooterz) said:

Same here, Cryptid Hunters will definitely be one of my candidates too! Hopefully the voting system will be similar to past contests where we can also vote for multiple entries too.

It sounds like we'll see something more unique for this one based on what cloneopatra said in another thread. I hope we can vote for multiple though (and maybe not our own, because I'm not sure how many non-entrants are planning on voting, and a 19-way tie would be...odd)

[JJ Tong (zfogshooterz)]

14 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

It sounds like we'll see something more unique for this one based on what cloneopatra said in another thread. I hope we can vote for multiple though (and maybe not our own, because I'm not sure how many non-entrants are planning on voting, and a 19-way tie would be...odd)

Based on a couple past contests I've entered, one did specifically mentioned that you're not allowed to vote for you entry. So hopefully that rule would be implemented for this one or at least specifically mentioned.

But yeah, I definitely agree that the idea of being able to vote for yourself would generally be already weird. 

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

Awesome.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

The first set look gorgeous to me, amazing details and perfect minifigs! 

I agree with @natesroom the skeleton is well integrated here! 

[Mandalorianknight]

On 10/15/2022 at 9:04 PM, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

The first set look gorgeous to me, amazing details and perfect minifigs! 

I agree with @natesroom the skeleton is well integrated here! 

Thank you! I did try to add a bit of how creepy/unnatural a skeleton army would be rather than how they just kind of exist in a lot of fantasy era stuff.